Edge of Faith March 2017 - Page 62

That is wonderful. My final thoughts, I guess is, I am kinda focused on all of the issues that have happened from Syria, because when you have refugees and all the other atrocities, it makes for a wonderful breading ground for sex trafficking and child labor and slavery and all of these things. So, I know you guys are both pretty knowledgeable of global issues. I’d like to get both of you all’s feedback on the European refugee crisis. Michelle: Maybe you could go first?

Michelle: Oh boy, when I was flying to Cairo to observe and interview girls for Zarah’s Stories, I was seated next to an Egyptian psychologist and I was talking to her about the problem there and giving girls the right to say no and to take charge of protecting their own bodies. We transferred to another plane in Dubai and as we kinda continued our conversation as we waited, a young girl, who was about twelve, came over to me and said, “You know, it is the same for us in my city, could you please come and talk to

us too?” She was from Aleppo and

I tell you, I cry for that little girl

every day, every day. My thoughts,

well, it is a horrific, horrific tragedy

and I believe, I mean, there is many

things we need to do and can do,

but I really believe we will be held

accountable for not extending

ourselves further as a country, to

respond to the call for help. We

should have done more, we still

can do more and we need to. We

should be allowing more refugees

into our country and taking some

of the burden off of Europe. We who

call ourselves followers of Christ should stand up for those who are the most vulnerable and speak truth to those who are in power and say we need to help these. I believe the day will come when the Lord will say to us, “In as much as you have not done it to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you haven’t done it to me” and I think that it is up to us to talk about the fact that we have a responsibility. We have been blessed and we have a responsibility, both through sisters in service, through all the different groups and areas that we have. We need to talk and we need to contact our government and ask them to do more. One more thing I will say here, when we were in North Africa on a different project, I was talking to a woman there and she said, “The only reason we are allowed to exist, is because your government puts pressure on our government and the only reason your government puts pressure on our government … is because you Christians put pressure on your government and the moment that stops… we will be wiped from the face of the Earth.” They said, “Our existence … depends on you and you don’t even know we exist.” That